Method of winning petroleum



Feb. 21, 1928. A. EHRAT METHOD OE WINNING PETROLEUM .Filed om. e, 1920 [n ven Zar v Pnco-vwv: E" SACKETTE WHHELMS CORP N Feb'. 2li,

'earns .finora sinner,- or zUnicH, SWITZERLAND, nssienon ro THE rima: 'renna enfriar:-

GESELIJSCHAFT, 0F ZURICH,

SWITZERLAND.

ranfrrion or WINNING rnrnonnmu.

Application filed October 8,1920. Serial No. 415,639.

'My invention refers to the production of petroleum,

natural gas or both and its par-` ticular object is a method which permits of producing oil and gas in .ray than was a more economical hitherto possible and without Up till now oil and gas have been pro duced mainly by drilling wells, the oil and gas flowing from these own pressure or by 'pumping In some p ris'ia oil has also been ob wells under theirbeiiig collected therefrom arts o f Europe and tained by the sinking of dug wells or shafts, and quite recently this method has again some cases. From a been resorted to 1n shaftsunk into the petrbliferous stratum horizontal galleries were driven -right in the sand, the oil seeping out low ground, while the sand and the oil recovered the oil was brought up oil-bearing rock or being collected beretaiiiing part of therefrom by boiling with water or'by other This method although nomieal thany the drilling being more ecomethod generally followed, inasmuch as most of the oil is recovered, nevertheless the gas accompanying developed therefrom, su

involved the loss of the oil or whichfis cli gases moreover mixing with the current of air introduced into the mine for Ventilating purposes and forming therewith an thus greatly endangering miners. Moreover the b explosive mixture, 0 the lives of the ringing to light of the oil-sand as well as the boiling procedure involves relatively high costs.

According to drawbacks are the piesent invention, these obviated and the gas accompanying'tlie oil is collected without any risk combining the two methods employed uptill now, viz, oil mining by way of shafts and galleries and the sinking of wells by drilling.. My combined tially consists in approa erous stratum by means out however method .substanching the petrolifof galleries withdriving the galleries into the stratum. The .bore with tubes, ythe oil and holes having been lined gas are collected and brought out inthe simplest and least' eX- pensive manner without coming in contact with the galleries nor with theair contained therein. However, in or der not only to collect the gas accumulated above the oil bearing roclr or pool, but also to utilize the presy sure exerted on the oil by the gas for the purpose of perfectly draining the oil bearing stratum, I prefer tapping this stratum 6o from belowvby driving galleries underneath it and drilling bore holes from these gal. lcries upwards. Wherever such borehole has reached the oil bearing rock or pool, the

pressure of the gas accumulated above it will drive out all the oil in the vicinity of the hole in the shortest possible time. Afterthe gas pressure isthus relieved, the remaining oil'will still drain out by gravity. On the other hand, if bore wards from galleries driven above the oilbearing stratum, the tubes, in order to utilize the gas pressure, should extend through the, holes right down to the bottom of the stratum.

Obviously no loss of gas nor of the more volatile constituents lof the oil can occur, if the oil and gas are thus led to the surface. As the galleries may approach the oil and gas deposit 'so as to be only a few -feet distant therefrom, the tapping of` the deposit by means of ter and a great number of holes can be drilled in a very short time whereby all the oil and gas accumulated in the deposit can be collected. in the simplest and yet mosteilective manner.

In order to facilitate the understanding of my inventiony and how the same is to be gas deposit, the shaft, galleries and bore holes, the oil bearing rock being tapped from below in the preferred manner afore described.

Figs. 2 aud 3 are similar views of modified forms.

Fig. l is a horizontal section on the line L1+L in Fig. l illustrating the preferred dis-V tribution of galleries and bore holes, and

Fig. 5 is a similar view, disclosing the way in which a shaft may be sunk right through the petroliferous stratum or oil and gas pool in order to. tap it from underneath.

Referring to Figs. l and fl of the drawings, c is the petroliferous stratum, a is the holes are drilled downbore holes is an easy matcan il.)

top, ai ic bottom, d shalt .suns into the roch; below th petrolnterous stratum, e are galleries extending' in didei ent dircctions and at dili'erent distances, respectively, from the bottom end of shaft, and ,7F are 'the bore holes extending :from the galleries u jow .s into the olii'erous stratum which in the present instance is .as sumed 'to be a porous roch impregnated with oil and gas ano which is being drained by 'way oi' the bore holes which are lined as lar as necessary with tubes j which are sealed in the bottom roch 1v? which The tubes are illustrated in Fig. l, are connected to a system of pipings (shown diametrically in Fig. l) conducting the oil and gaa'respectively, to the surface. The natural flow of the oil is assisted by pumping.

lathe instance disclosed in the drawings the shaft d is shown as traversing the oli rbearing stratum, although it might as well be sunk laterally thereoi. ln order to acili` tate the sinking of the shaft right through the petroliferous stratum l preier proceeding as follows: Before starting digging l drill bore holes from the'suri'ace into the deposit of oil and gas, an appropriate number of such hol-osg (F ig. 5') being arranged at a distance o1 a t'ew feet around the column [t designed for the sinking of the shaft. lirom these holes which are preferably lined with casings, pipes c extending 'radially outwards and leading into an annular main il: are connected to a Ventilating fan or vacuum pump (not shown) serving to evacuate as :tar as possible the gas from the column ft ot' rock or sand which the shaft shall be sunlr through. instead of merely using the bore holes for draining the column l may also'resort to a method resembling the well lmown freezing method: lin order to bloclr the pores .of the rockin the vicinity of the bore holes and thus to prevent oil and gas from being sucked from outside into the said column, l inject into the said holes clay or some other suitable material suspended in Water, thus barring the way to the oil and gas from the surrounding roch and allowing the column fl, to be dug outright through the oil bearing stratum without any risk.

ln order to hasten-the Jroduction of oil and gas, l may drive galeries m (Fig. 2)

also above the petroliferous stratum and drill holes n from these alleries right down into the oil 'bearing ro'c r. 'lhe drill holes a are also preferably lined with tubes similarto tubes i.

ln the case where several oil-bearing strata extend atdifterent levels belowrone another, a shaft d may be sunk through all these strata, as shown for inst. in Fig. 3, and

u galleries e, e may be driven from said shaft underneath the lowest one and also intermediate between. the strata, trom which galleries bore holes j', fmay then be drilled 'into the oil-bearing stratum the oil which did not seep out by itseli being thus collected.

ln order to restore the gas pressure ref.

quired or'drivi'ng the on out, whenevertho pressure ci the natural gas-has fallen below a certain limit, may introduce throughv the bore holes a compressed bearing roch or sand.

claim: l. 'lhe method ci recovering petroleum, comprising` tapping-upwardly into an oilbearing stratum from below, and leading oil out through the tap and thence to the surface.

2.-'l`he method of recovering petroleum, comprising sinking a shaft through an oil bearing stratum, tappingv upwardly into the lower part of the stratum from below, and leading the oil out into the shaft, and thence to the surface. A 3. The methodv of recovering petroleum, comprising sinking a shaft through an -oil bearing stratum, extending a gallery from gas into. the 'oill the shaft underneath the stratum and tapgas Zone, establishing a gastight communication between the tap and ther surface, and recovering products through said communication,

5. The method of recovering oil and gas,

comprising sinking a shaft through an oil I and gas bearing stratum, extending a gallery out from the shaft below the stratum, tapping into the stratum from below establishing a gas-tight communication between the' tap and the surface and recovering gas and oil. through said communication.

6. The method of recovering petroleum products which comprises sinking a shaft to point adjacent to a petroliferous stratum, driving a gallery out of Contact with the stratum and-substantially parallel thereto, tapping, at an angle to the longitudinal axis through said communication.

of the gallery into the oil stratum to a point below the gas zone, establishing a gas-tight communication between the tap and the surface andutilizing gas pressure in the uppel portion of. thestratum to extract die oil through said communication.`

-7.l' l`he method of producing"petroleum and natural gas which comprises driving a galler underneath a petroliferous stratum, establishing a gas-tight communication be--` tween said gallery and said stratum and betweensaid gallery and said surface and con-v veying petroleum and gas to the surface 8.v he method of produclng .petroleum and natural vgas which comprises freeing from oil and gas a columnof rock extending through a petroliferous stratum, digging out said column throughl and below the lowerjlevel. of said stratum, driving a gallery underneath said stratum, connecting said gallery with said stratum by a bore hole, lining said bore hole with a pipe an'd conveying petroleum and gas from said. stratum through 'said pipe'and thence to the.

surface by pumpmg.

9. The method of producing ypetroleum and natural gasfwhich .comprises drilling bore holes around a columnl of rock extending through a petroliferous stratum, evacuatlng oil and Agasf rom said column through said holes, digging out said column through and below the lower level 'of said stratum,

driving a gallery underneath said stratum, ,connecting said galle column through and below thelowerdevel o`f said stratum, driving, a gallery underneath said stratum, connecting said gallery with said stratum vby la bore hole, lining said 'bore hole with a` pipe and conveying petroleuin and gas from said stratum through said pipe'and thence to the 'surface bypumping.

In testimony whereof IV affix my signa* y,

amour` EHRAT. l 

